To The Ant
Reading edition
She placed at every turn that led To her abode, a sign which read, “Go to the Ant,” and hung beside Her picture, highly magnified. Said she, “At least that cannot fail To bring a Turtle, Sloth, or Snail, A Dormouse, or a Boy, to learn Their livelihood (and mine) to earn! “I’ll teach them, first of all, to see The joyousness of industry; And they, to grasp my meaning more, Shall gather in my winter store. “The Beauty of Abstemiousness I’ll next endeavor to impress Upon their minds at meals. (N. B. That is—if they should board with me.)
“Then Architecture they shall try (My present house is far from dry)— In short, all Honest Toil I’ll teach (And they shall practise what I preach).”
Alas, for castles in the air!— There’s no delusion anywhere Quite so delusive as, I fear, Is a professional career. So thought the ant last time we met. She only has one sluggard yet, Who scantly fills her larder shelf— It is, I grieve to say, herself!
